Kroger Spending Big in Home Market

The Kroger Co. (Cincinnati) plans to invest $130 million this year in building and renovating new and existing stores in Greater Cincinnati and Dayton, reports Cincinnati.com, website of the local newspaper, The Enquirer. That total will include the opening two new stores in Northern Kentucky, as the grocer looks to protect its home turf as Florida-based Publix enters the region.

The new Kroger Northern Kentucky locales will be in Newport and Edgewood, which are just south of the Ohio River at Cincinnati. Also part of the plan: $45 million worth of renovations to 16 stores in the region and a new store in Eaton, west of Dayton.

Those regional building plans represent a 55% increase from the $84 million plan it unveiled last year and four times the typical $30 million the retailer has spent on renovations and new construction in recent years.

The infusion of cash into Northern Kentucky comes after Publix opened the first of five local stores last month, in Walton, Ky. The stores are part of a broader expansion of Publix into Kentucky, which has a store in Louisville and Lexington with 10 more in the works.

But Publix has thus far not opened any stores on the north side of the Ohio River, steering clear of directly competing in the southwest Ohio markets dominated by Kroger.

In a statement, Kroger Local Division President Ann Reed sidestepped any mention of the intensified competition, the Enquirer noted:

“As the hometown grocer … we take pride in our ability to improve access to fresh affordable food,” she said, adding the big number “underscores our commitment” to customers, employees and the community.